The Question: Where are you off to next?
The Answer is usually followed by a look of shocked realization with some hesitation. Then an “Oh.” is uttered. To round out the awkward silence a “Really?” is typically thrown in. And then a little clarification, “Kentucky, huh? ... For the WINTER?”
Our Response: Yes! (BIG SMILE)
This is how it has gone. We have had this conversation many times since choosing to spend winter 2015 in The Bluegrass State.
To us it seemed perfect. Although it is nice that our lifestyle caters to the idea, we have decided that don’t want to live our lives always avoiding the weather or the seasons.
They say we just missed the peak of color so we were excited to see that not all of the change had fallen to the ground prior to our arrival.
As the sun sets we get quite a nice bit of color out of our westward windows.
Oh, but we haven’t told you where we are yet.
The locals call it the Grand Canyon of the East. Climbers claim it as one of the premiere rock climbing destinations in the world. It is a National Natural Landmark, a geological wonder formed many millions of years ago, possessing over 100 natural bridges/arches and containing the largest concentration of rock shelter sites in Eastern North America.
We call it... The Red. Short for The Red River Gorge Geological Area.
No matter how you view it, no matter what it means to you, there is no denying that this place is beautiful.
And we will be living right in the center of it all for the next four months as Campground Hosts for the Daniel Boone National Forest at Koomer Ridge Campground.
We’re still getting oriented to the area. Our first week was busier than expected and our first weekend we were filled to capacity and beyond.
This coming weekend our campground is the location of the start, finish and basecamp for all festivities and suffering that is the Rough Trail Ultra Marathon. The Rough Trail is quoted as being one of the roughest, toughest, and damn hardest trail races in the eastern United States.
After that, weather dependent, things may start to slow down... or not. That’s o.k. We enjoy campground hosting and figure we’ve only got about a month and a half of actually seeing people until true hibernation in this area begins.
Speaking of... back to Koomer and perhaps we’ll do one of the hikes that leads out of our campground and along the edge of the surrounding cliffs.
Until next time...